Wow! Coyotes during the day walking around - while people are watching!!!!
Reminds me of the fox we had hanging around last year. It's a pain, but this year, we actually "put the chickens to bed" around 5- 6pm. It's not easy since the birds want to stay out until close to sunset. The darn fox would come visit as early as 5-7 pm and sometimes I'd see him/her on top of the coop when I go out at 8am. Because the time varies, we try to keep the dog outside when chickens are out. The dog is the only effective deterrent. Our dog cannot be outside all the time. There are periods of rain, intense heat, or intense cold and feeding time , when the dog must be inside. To our benefit, our yard & all 3 surrounding us, have dogs.
We still have 3 poults today (no new chicks; no loss of life.) The white turkey has a herniated navel but made it with no intervention. Twice a brown poult fell out of the nestbox. I was going to ready a temp house brooder to provide some TLC, but decided to keep them with mama hen. I added a piece of thin, hard plastic to make a taller wall to keep them in. I also added some turkey feed so mama & poults had snacks while waiting for chicken siblings. (I don't want to move the hen until all or most eggs hatch. Once hatched, I have no problem moving a broody & her chicks. My big brooder is empty & all set up for Jewel.
It's a little crazy in the backyard right now. I have SIX broody hens!!!! Four have chicks, Jewel is hatching as I type, and the last (Cookie my champ broody) has eggs due in 2 weeks. I sold & rehomed many chicks, so the broody hens are now free ranging with small manageable number of chicks. However, each hen thinks she's queen & picks fights. My roosters are working overtime to keep the peace.
